10/11 Tahoe Weather, Conditions, Stoke, and What's Up Thread

PB · 08-15-2011, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by VC

There's a gate on the road, Frog Lakes is private.

In that case, they should have opened the Castle Valley gate by now, across from the Boreal exit on 80, and the road over to the the SE apron of Castle Peak would probably be the shortest/easiest approach.

**flatfive40** · 08-15-2011, 06:55 PM

Castle valley gate was closed as of last weekend. Still probably the easiest way to access that area.

**splat** · 08-15-2011, 07:19 PM

Originally Posted by Consigliere

Not the absolutely best time to snap the tendon, but better than if I had ruptured it in December or February and been stuck looking at this http://i.imgur.com/tEsti.jpg (NMS) during the sweet March powder.

I did get antsy checking out the AM july 4th pics.

Gimpy fist-bump. Walking for the first time after being on crutches for 1.5 months is weirder than I had expected.

If someone would open that damn Castle gate, we have the makings of a summer ski gimp reunion here.

**old goat** · 08-15-2011, 07:40 PM

For the lines east of Castle Pk I think the easiest approach would be the Warren Lake trail--either from the PCT parking lot south of 80 or from the Castle Valley gate hike east parallel to 80 to intersect the PCT and then the warren lk trail--yesterday the mile along the freeway it was a combination of jeep road and bushwhacking--not fun with skis sticking up I would think. It's about 4 mi or so to the ridge that ends at the frog lake cliffs. on the other side of the ridge there's a big open bowl with still a lot of snow--and following the ridge towards castle peak will get you to the chutes I was talking about. For the ridge btween Castle and Basin hike or drive up Castle valley road hike up to castle pass and follow the ridge to Castle peak and continue north. If the road opens people do drive up to the base of castle pass in low clearance vehicles but I wouldn't. About two miles up the road to castle pass, maybe a mile up to the peak.

If you've never hiked back there it's one of the best local hikes IMHO. From the aforementioned ridge on the warren lake trail it's another 3 miles with a lot of down and up along the backside of Castle and Basin peaks (the prettiest section), to a junction with Warren Lake trail and Devil's Oven lake. take the devil's oven (left or south) branch and almost immediately head up the ridge a short ways to pick up a trail heading around the north end of basin pk to parallel its west side. This trail is double track in spots, invisible in others and right now is hard to follow due to snow. It intersects the PCT about a mile north of castle valley--follow the PCT south to castle pass then follow castle valley road back to your car at the castle valley gate. About a fifteen mile hike I think, maybe a little less. Add a couple of miles if you park at the PCT trailhead near boreal and follow the PCT trail down from castle pass instead of castle valley road.

**gone2alpine** · 08-16-2011, 07:09 AM

G2A, Vets and JLA415 hit up The Nipple on 8/15/11. Without too much hiking effort we pulled off 9 runs on five different patches. Only the last patch that brought us back to the car was significantly cuppy. Amazing fun conditions for mid-August.

The lookers left patch we dubbed the Boreal Patch as it is longer and steeper than most Boreal runs (viewed from Lower Blue Lakes).

G2A on the middle patch on the Nips backside.

G2A heads back for a second lap

Perfect corn 8s were left in this frontside chute by G2A and Vets

Thanks to Vets for doing the recon for this mission. Thanks to JLA415 for supplying these pics. Mine were all facked up due to "acid" setting on my camera. See those pics here:http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...hp?albumid=616

VC · 08-16-2011, 08:38 AM

Looking at houses in Truckee and a couple have in-law units. We're thinking about using the in law units as ski type leases. What do you think going rates would be for

1 bedroom studio, looks like fridge/sink not really a kitchen
2bed/1 bath full kitchen

Obviously condition, distance to the mountain and other factors would play in. I'm just trying to get a ballpark. Don't really want to rent them out full time and have tenants, more like for people coming up for winter probably weekends/holidays and some full weeks.

**gageyk** · 08-16-2011, 08:39 AM

Originally Posted by old goat

For the lines east of Castle Pk I think the easiest approach would be the Warren Lake trail--either from the PCT parking lot south of 80 or from the Castle Valley gate hike east parallel to 80 to intersect the PCT and then the warren lk trail--yesterday the mile along the freeway it was a combination of jeep road and bushwhacking--not fun with skis sticking up I would think. It's about 4 mi or so to the ridge that ends at the frog lake cliffs. on the other side of the ridge there's a big open bowl with still a lot of snow--and following the ridge towards castle peak will get you to the chutes I was talking about. For the ridge btween Castle and Basin hike or drive up Castle valley road hike up to castle pass and follow the ridge to Castle peak and continue north. If the road opens people do drive up to the base of castle pass in low clearance vehicles but I wouldn't. About two miles up the road to castle pass, maybe a mile up to the peak.

If you've never hiked back there it's one of the best local hikes IMHO. From the aforementioned ridge on the warren lake trail it's another 3 miles with a lot of down and up along the backside of Castle and Basin peaks (the prettiest section), to a junction with Warren Lake trail and Devil's Oven lake. take the devil's oven (left or south) branch and almost immediately head up the ridge a short ways to pick up a trail heading around the north end of basin pk to parallel its west side. This trail is double track in spots, invisible in others and right now is hard to follow due to snow. It intersects the PCT about a mile north of castle valley--follow the PCT south to castle pass then follow castle valley road back to your car at the castle valley gate. About a fifteen mile hike I think, maybe a little less. Add a couple of miles if you park at the PCT trailhead near boreal and follow the PCT trail down from castle pass instead of castle valley road.

You can drive to Summit Lake via Negro Canyon. Will need high clearance. From there it's about 2.5 miles via the Warren Lake trail to the saddle before dropping into Devils Oven Lake. Drive is slow going and probably faster to go old goats way.

I was on the peaklet overlooking Frog Lake and snapped this photo of the east side of Castle Peak on August 7.

**gone2alpine** · 08-16-2011, 09:29 AM

^^^^ If I were not on the way to the lake, I would be packing skis right now.

**dookeyXXX** · 08-16-2011, 12:23 PM

Originally Posted by old goat

For the lines east of Castle Pk I think the easiest approach would be the Warren Lake trail--either from the PCT parking lot south of 80 or from the Castle Valley gate hike east parallel to 80 to intersect the PCT and then the warren lk trail--yesterday the mile along the freeway it was a combination of jeep road and bushwhacking--not fun with skis sticking up I would think. It's about 4 mi or so to the ridge that ends at the frog lake cliffs. on the other side of the ridge there's a big open bowl with still a lot of snow--and following the ridge towards castle peak will get you to the chutes I was talking about. For the ridge btween Castle and Basin hike or drive up Castle valley road hike up to castle pass and follow the ridge to Castle peak and continue north. If the road opens people do drive up to the base of castle pass in low clearance vehicles but I wouldn't. About two miles up the road to castle pass, maybe a mile up to the peak.

If you've never hiked back there it's one of the best local hikes IMHO. From the aforementioned ridge on the warren lake trail it's another 3 miles with a lot of down and up along the backside of Castle and Basin peaks (the prettiest section), to a junction with Warren Lake trail and Devil's Oven lake. take the devil's oven (left or south) branch and almost immediately head up the ridge a short ways to pick up a trail heading around the north end of basin pk to parallel its west side. This trail is double track in spots, invisible in others and right now is hard to follow due to snow. It intersects the PCT about a mile north of castle valley--follow the PCT south to castle pass then follow castle valley road back to your car at the castle valley gate. About a fifteen mile hike I think, maybe a little less. Add a couple of miles if you park at the PCT trailhead near boreal and follow the PCT trail down from castle pass instead of castle valley road.

I'm still exploring this area, but what about hitting it from the Webber Lake/Jackson Meadows side off of 89? I drove down to Meadow Lake and skied some patches up above French Lake, with views of Fordyce Lake and Signal Peak in the near distance, a couple of weeks ago. There were plenty of 4x4 roads that looked like they went all the way to 80...

As for the Frog Lake area stuff, what about hitting that from the Negro Canyon entry? Or even from Tahoe/Donner up by Sunrise Bowl?

**old goat** · 08-16-2011, 07:25 PM

Originally Posted by dookey67

I'm still exploring this area, but what about hitting it from the Webber Lake/Jackson Meadows side off of 89? I drove down to Meadow Lake and skied some patches up above French Lake, with views of Fordyce Lake and Signal Peak in the near distance, a couple of weeks ago. There were plenty of 4x4 roads that looked like they went all the way to 80...

As for the Frog Lake area stuff, what about hitting that from the Negro Canyon entry? Or even from Tahoe/Donner up by Sunrise Bowl?

I don't know anything about either of those approaches--sorry. BTW--the chutes I was talking about are in gageyk's picture on the left edge in the background. The bowl in the foreground goes a fair way below the edge of the picture. There's at least one long line in the chutes to the right of Castle Peak in the photo--looks to be as long as the other lines. Wish I'd had skis when I did the hike--I was expecting snow but not that much.

**Vets** · 08-17-2011, 12:28 AM

Today's birthday hike and swim for Mrs. Vets turned into a recon mission. After swimming in Burnside Lake along with our dogs Makisha and Penny we noticed a road that looked like it headed up to Hawkins Peak. A locked gate was unlocked and the road was open.
A couple of things just stated would be ominous. One is the name Burnside. The other is the unlocked gate.
As we headed up we had glimpses of snow that didn't look too far away.
Makisha and Penny approve of this patch:

Then we noticed the Flying Fish Patch:

Pretty good size for a south facing patch in mid-August. I wish I had my skis with me then.
Looking the other way we saw the Zigzag patch:

Another distant view:

While checking out another patch I noticed something in the background...

...a closer look at smoke from the Ray May fire...

I hope that they get it contained soon.
On our way back down the unlocked gate was locked. By backtracking, manuevering, and some scouting on foot by me, we found a safe way around and out so that we wouldn't have to spend the night there.
I'm hoping to head back there to ski on Thursday and/or Friday.

**powdork** · 08-17-2011, 01:24 AM

went to carson pass for wildflowers

and the potholes for meditation today

for the record guys, i DO NOT recommend this. prolly not to nice on the girl parts either.

took lots of pics. prolly have something up in photo/video or the padded room soon

**splat** · 08-17-2011, 09:25 AM

powdork levitates in (cutoff) jeans. Vets names more patches. (He has patchskiing.com now)

gone2alpine - how did you get this shot from out on blue lake, or is that upper blue?

**powdork** · 08-17-2011, 11:39 AM

carson pass is still the best bet, as you can connect the dots down close to round top or winnemucca lake

**powdrhound** · 08-17-2011, 02:56 PM

Originally Posted by splat

gone2alpine - how did you get this shot from out on blue lake, or is that upper blue?

This is the view from the dam. Vets led Bella and I to the left patch last month. Fine day.

**Sinecure** · 08-17-2011, 03:17 PM

VC, I'd figure on 4-500 for a 1br and 8-1000 for 2br per month on a 5 month ski lease. You might get more, but if you want to get tenants you want, you can be more choosy if you charge less. FWIW, we paid $2k/mo for 5 month lease on a 3BR/3BA condo right at Alpine last season. Plus utilities.

**h-atlas** · 08-17-2011, 06:06 PM

Hey Tahoe people - I'm a once and a while TGR poster, but I thought I'd reach out and ask you to vote for me in the Mike's Hard Sports contest. I'm hoping skiing can prevail over cornhole. My video has sequences from Shasta and the Forestdale Patch (trying to appeal to the patch skiers) from this summer. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/mikeshardle...p_data=41%2C21

It's a long story (aka a blog) about why I want to win this and if you care, you can read about it here:

http://meghankellytelesdotcom.wordpr...7/vote-for-me/

Either way... VOTE! Thanks!

VC · 08-17-2011, 09:38 PM

Originally Posted by Sinecure

VC, I'd figure on 4-500 for a 1br and 8-1000 for 2br per month on a 5 month ski lease. You might get more, but if you want to get tenants you want, you can be more choosy if you charge less. FWIW, we paid $2k/mo for 5 month lease on a 3BR/3BA condo right at Alpine last season. Plus utilities.

Thanks for the insight, and would much rather deal with good people for a couple hundred less a month.

G · 08-17-2011, 10:36 PM

Originally Posted by h-atlas

Hey Tahoe people - I'm a once and a while TGR poster, but I thought I'd reach out and ask you to vote for me in the Mike's Hard Sports contest. I'm hoping skiing can prevail over cornhole. My video has sequences from Shasta and the Forestdale Patch (trying to appeal to the patch skiers) from this summer. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/mikeshardle...p_data=41%2C21

It's a long story (aka a blog) about why I want to win this and if you care, you can read about it here:

http://meghankellytelesdotcom.wordpr...7/vote-for-me/

Either way... VOTE! Thanks!

There's something seriously wrong with this contest if the girl tele-skiing in a bikini doesn't win!

**powdork** · 08-17-2011, 11:34 PM

tags-Actual Hard Sport, Not Cornhole, Girl in Bikini Skiing, Funniest Video

**powdork** · 08-18-2011, 10:14 PM

anyine up for carson pass hijinx tomorrow. we're leaving tahoe @9

oh, and you can ote for the telebikini every day

**the_immaculatedeception** · 08-19-2011, 01:16 PM

getting a little too close to Page 2 status.. bump to keep us here!

now TR away for us patch skiers!!

**HiGrade1** · 08-19-2011, 03:28 PM

i would vote for a bikini girl who loves twin tips.....

**powdork** · 08-19-2011, 04:30 PM

carson pass was good again today. pics at 11

**Vets** · 08-19-2011, 09:55 PM

I made it up to Hawkins Peak today with Mrs. Vets and our dogs. I skied the Flying Fish patch and the Zigzag patch. Each patch was about 20 turns long.

Penny was happy to be there:

Penny and Makisha join in on the Flying Fish patch:

Penny follows me down the Zigzag patch:

The "Flying Fish" patch can be seen on the background.

The snow was pretty smooth. I'll have to ski here earlier next summer.